King University News :: Holocaust Survivor Martin Weiss to Share his Story at King
University and Emory & Henry College Feb. 16

BRISTOL, Tenn., Feb. 9, 2015 – Holocaust survivor Martin Weiss will share his story
on Monday, Feb. 16 at King University’s Memorial Chapel in Bristol, Tenn., at 9:15
a.m., and again that evening at 7 p.m., at Emory Henry College’s Van Dyke Commons
in the Board of Visitors Lounge in Emory, Va. The event is part of the Buechner (Beek-ner)
Institute’s 2014-15 Lecture Series and is co-sponsored by Virginia Highlands Community
College, Emory Henry College, and the Bristol Herald Courier.

Each year King University joins with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in
honoring and remembering the victims of the Holocaust by inviting a survivor to speak.
“From the first year of the Buechner Institute’s programming, we have partnered with
the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,” says Shannon Harris, coordinator of
the Buechner Institute and chair of the Department of History at King, “bringing survivors
to this area to give their unique testimonies. We value the Museum’s mission to cultivate
a sense of moral responsibility among our citizens so they can be positive agents
when responding to the world’s deep needs.”

This long standing program seeks to promote the cause of human dignity around the
world and educate present and future generations in the agendas of peace. “Survivor
stories are so important to hear, for they remind us that, in the words of William
Faulkner, ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past.’ In a world racked by continuing
violence and threats of genocide, when Holocaust deniers can gain traction on the
internet, it is important to be reminded of the realities of history. A history that
continues to shape not just survivors, but you, me, this nation, and the world,” states
Harris.

Martin Weiss was born in Jan. 1929 in Polana, Czechoslovakia to Orthodox Jewish parents
Jacob and Golda Weiss. He was one of nine children. When Nazi Germany and its allies
dismantled Czechoslovakia in 1939, Weiss’ life changed dramatically. Two brothers
were conscripted into slave labor battalions and sent to the Russian front.

In April 1944, Weiss and his remaining family were transported to the Munkacs Ghetto,
then moved to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in May 1944, where Marty,
his brother Moshe, his sister Cilia, their father Jacob, and two uncles were selected
for slave labor. The rest of their family was killed upon arrival. After a brief stay
at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Martin and his father were sent to Mauthausen concentration
camp in Austria, where his father would die from exhaustion and starvation. Weiss
was liberated in May 5, 1945.

Martin Weiss arrived in New York in 1946, after his sister Ellen, who had immigrated
to the United States in 1939, arranged U.S. visas for him, brother Mendl, sister Cilia,
and her husband Fred.

Weiss served in the United States Army during the Korean War before entering the grocery
business in 1955. In 1957, he married Joan Merlis. They have two children and four
grandchildren. He has been volunteering at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
since 1998.

Martin Weiss will share his experiences as a Holocaust survivor on Monday, Feb. 16
at 9:15 a.m. in King University’s Memorial Chapel on the main campus in Bristol, Tenn.,
and at 7 p.m. at Emory Henry College’s Van Dyke Commons in the Board of Visitors
Lounge in Emory, Va. The event is free and open to the public. For more information,
contact Shannon Harris, coordinator of the Buechner Institute, at svharris@king.edu, 423-652-4836, or visit www.buechnerinstitute.org.

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1867 as King College, the University offers more than 90 majors, minors, pre-professional
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